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Five hydrogen powered cars have been unveiled at the University of
Birmingham, making it the only university in the UK to run a fleet of
vehicles powered in this way.
The cars are powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, they are pollution free,
virtually silent in operation, can travel up to 100 miles on a full tank
of hydrogen and at speeds up to 50 miles per hour.
The vehicles, designed and built by Microcab Ltd, are being used in a
study by the University’s School of Chemical Engineering to find out
more about the viability of hydrogen in transport applications. They
will be compared with the campus fleet of petrol, diesel and pure
electric vehicles so that researchers can learn about their efficiency,
performance and how they can be adapted in order to make hydrogen an
attractive and cost effective option as a future fuel.
Professor Kevin Kendall, lead investigator for the project and head of
the University’s Fuel Cells Group, says, ‘The cars will now start to
carry out tasks on the campus, including postal deliveries, recycling of
materials and duties around the estate. This will enable us to test the
car components for reliability, get the cars road-legal and confirm
their efficiency and cost effectiveness.’
Dr Waldemar Bujalski from the Fuel Cells Group, says, ‘We have the
beginnings of a hydrogen infrastructure, as the University currently has
a refuelling station on its campus, and there are more Midlands fuelling
stations coming into operation over the coming months, so soon we expect
to be able to drive between these sites in vehicles powered by
hydrogen.’
John Jostins, Managing Director of Microcab, says, ‘This is a very
special moment for the Microcab project - our first delivery of a fleet
of vehicles. This kind of zero emissions car has been a personal vision
of mine for many years and the sight of five hydrogen fuel cell
Microcabs running round the campus in convoy is truly wonderful for me.’
The research is part of the hydrogen energy project which has received
funding from Regional Development Agency Advantage West Midlands to
develop the use of hydrogen energy as a green fuel in collaboration with
the University of Warwick. The project is part of the Science City
Initiative.
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